Friday, October 2, 2015

Friday's Portland Winterhawks News and Notes: Looking at Everett

Saturday's Opponent: the Everett Silvertips:
-Everett should be getting back Montreal Canadien's 1st round pick: D-man Noah Juulsen from NHL camp in time for the game Saturday night.

Juulsen was suffering from post-concussion issues and sat out all of the Tip's preseason games and most of Montreal's camp, before playing in last night's game vs. the Ottawa Senators. He has been returned to the Silvertips and it is expected he should be healthy and ready to go Saturday night in the Moda Center. His addition adds an offensive side to their blue line that no other Everett D-man can match.

The Tips Last Week:
 -Everett got an outstanding performance from 2016 NHL Draft eligible Goalie: Carter Hart, who stopped all 27 Prince George shots last Friday on the way to a 2-0 win in P.G. Patrick Bajkov had the Tip's long goal on The Cougar's Ty Edmonds and 16 year old rookie Connor Dewar scored an empty net goal to ice the game.
-Hart followed up his stellar performance Friday, with a dud on Saturday. He allowed 4 goals on the first 20 P.G. shots he faced and ended up getting pulled. Matt Fonteyne potted the only Everett goal in their 5-1 loss.

Players to Watch:
-# 16 Carson Stadnyk:
The over-age forward is coming off a breakout 69 point season and will be expected to lead the way offensively for the Tips. While he attended NHL camp with the St. Louis Blues, Standyk is, in essence, playing for an NHL contract this season and if he builds on his point total from last year, he could get some more interest. He seemed to really have Portland's number last season, scoring an OT winner in one of the games Everett was victorious in over Portland.

-#13 Remi Laurencelle:
The Tips other over-age forward, came to the team in a trade deadline deal with Lethbridge in 2014 and has not disappointed. The Center-man seems built for Head Coach Kevin Constantine's system, as he plays a full 200 foot game, back-checking like mad and making the sometimes more skilled opponent frustrated with tight-checking and solid, but not illegal physical play. On face value, he does not seem like a top line center on a contender in the WHL, but he gets the most out of his talent by fore-checking, forcing turnovers and cashing in.

-#70 Carter Hart:
It's not breaking any news to state that the Silvertips will go as far as the 17 year old Goalie carries them. Last weekend was an example of that as they won the game in which he played, well and didn't when he did not have his A game. Hart has notoriously played poorly against Portland as he was pulled 4 different times last season and in my opinion did not play as well as Portland's Adin Hill in their playoff series. The trend of playing poorly against the Hawks continued this preseason, as he gave up 5 goals on 26 shots in the preseason. Consistency against teams like Portland will go a long way for the Tips in their hopes of repeating as U.S. Division champions.

Injury Report:
Everett:
-The Tips will be without a huge chunk of players: Forwards Dawson Leedahl and Yan Khomenko are out for another week with injuries, D-man Tristen Pfeifer should be out another couple weeks and import D-man Alexander Scherbakov is out indefinitely.

Bjorkstrand Back in Camp and Scores Two Goals:
-Former Winterhawk: Oliver Bjorkstrand was re-assigned by CBJ down to the AHL just 1 week ago and he is already back in Columbus Blue Jackets camp, providing goals. He had 2 goals and an assist for 3 points as CBJ beat Buffalo 6-4 tonight, under 12 hours after being recalled. The 3 point night should make moving him back to Lake Erie even more difficult.
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